All publications herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. The following description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer and second leading cause of cancer death of women in North America with an estimated 226,000 new diagnoses per year in 2013. Over 50% of woman diagnosed with breast cancer receive radiation therapy (RT) and chemotherapy such as doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide and paclitaxel following surgery with demonstrated survival advantage in numerous randomized trials. However despite recent advances in treatment, the fact that 40% of women with locally advanced cancer still succumb to disease highlights the need for new therapeutic approaches and identification of new therapeutic targets. One such target is the immune microenvironment of breast tumors. It has been suspected that inflammation drives the development of cancer; however, it has only been recently recognized that the immune system also regulates the response to standard treatments including RT and chemotherapy. Despite this recognition, research in radiation and chemotherapy still remains largely focused on the effects of these agents on tumor cells themselves and little is known about which cells and pathways of the immune system determine the response of tumors to cytotoxic therapy. There exists a need for treatment strategies to enhance the therapeutic response of cancer therapy.